Ski slope debt is up for auction

Published 6:18 pm, Monday, October 21, 2013

A Utah bank is auctioning off the $343,000 mortgage that it holds on West Mountain as the Queensbury downhill ski center works to open this upcoming winter amid a complex bankruptcy.

Zions First National Bank of Utah will start taking bids for the mortgage Tuesday, with a minimum bid of $100,000, according to the web site Auction.com. The auction ends Thursday.

The new company running the mountain, Apex Capital, has been selling season passes for the upcoming season despite the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, which has yet to be resolved. On its website, the mountain is selling season passes for as low as $149, although a disclaimer notes that refunds will be made if the mountain cannot open this season.

Spencer Montgomery, a Glens Falls native who moved back to the area to help revive the mountain as part of Apex Capital, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Apex had tried to buy the mortgage from Zions for $350,000, but Zions demanded more, bankruptcy court records show, before deciding to sell the mortgage at auction.

West Mountain has 40 trails and 365 acres total. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in June with $4 million in debt.

Zions First National Bank has told the judge overseeing the case that it has serious doubts about the feasibility of the mountain's reorganization plan and the experience of Apex running a ski mountain. Whoever wins the mortgage would replace Zions as a major creditor.